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ELSA FLAVELL
Professor James Shelley was appointed to Canterbury College in the 1920’s as its first Professor of Education. A man of wide interests and great enthusiasm, he believed that education should have a large cultural component. Over the years this became centred on the dramatic arts and, in the then absence of professional theatre in New Zealand, on amateur theatre in particular. All the best characteristics of amateur theatre were highlighted and fostered by Shelley in what has become recognized as “little theatre”.
Innovative, striving for the highest standards with a minimum of resources, and complete devotion to the “cause” are its hallmarks.
In the 1930’s Elsa Flavell was one of Shelly’s students and was in several of his productions. When she later came to Inglewood, and became part of the Inglewood Dramatic Society, there can be little doubt that much of Shelley’s philosophy came with her. How many amateur societies can claim to have such a connection.
(Reference: “The Little Theatre” – Glyn Strange, Clerestory Press)